Trending claims

The DOJ says the nonprofit Home At Last received $118 million in public funds via contracts with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

A third defendant, Donye Mitchell, remains at large.

Lakiya Malone is accused of accepting $180,000 in bribes and kickbacks from Alexander Soofer to place homeless clients, including fictitious ones, in his charity's programs.

Alexander Soofer was arrested in January on fraud charges and has admitted to misappropriating $10 million in public funds.

The DOJ announced on Wednesday it charged three individuals with defrauding federal funds for Los Angeles homelessness programs.

Defendants Michael Young and Lakiya Malone were arrested by federal agents at their homes on Wednesday morning.

Nine federal circuit courts have upheld the right to record police, provided there is no physical interference.

Fact: Hunter Demster cofounded a local group that monitors the activities of the Memphis Safe Task Force.

Over the past two years, videos have shown federal immigration agents arresting or threatening people for filming them in locations from Oregon to the Florida Keys.

ACLU attorney Scarlet Kim described the Task Force's actions against Mr. Demster and other clients as an 'unrelenting campaign of harassment' and a 'gross violation of their constitutional rights'.

ACLU attorney Scarlet Kim stated that Task Force agents should neither stake out clients' homes for recording them nor abuse the Halo Law to interfere with their First Amendment right to record.

Fact: A lawsuit filed by the ACLU and others seeks a preliminary injunction to stop task force officers from intimidating, assaulting, or arresting people for recording them.

Fact: Florida, Louisiana, Indiana, and Arizona have passed "buffer zone" laws similar to Tennessee's in recent years.

Fact: In legal declarations, Hunter Demster estimated that task force members used the "Halo Law" 40 to 50 times to threaten him with arrest.

Fact: Hunter Demster's legal declaration states that task force agents went to his home on August 30 and September 3 to take pictures and video of him.

Fact: Hunter Demster was released at the scene of his arrest.

Fact: A federal judge struck down Arizona's "buffer zone" law in 2023, ruling it unconstitutionally broad.

Fact: The ACLU released video and a declaration as supplemental material in a lawsuit filed in mid-May against the Memphis Safe Task Force.

Fact: Hunter Demster and eight other residents allege in legal declarations that they were violently arrested, surveilled, and jailed for filming the Memphis Safe Task Force.

Fact: Tennessee's "Halo Law" prohibits bystanders from approaching within 25 feet of police and first responders if they have been ordered to retreat.